Sweet Maria's Weblog

We have two coffees from East Africa for this installment of the bi-weekly roasted coffee subscription. I like to choose at least one coffee we describe as "approachable", this time around the Certified Organic Uganda Cheema Kapchorwa fitting the bill.

The Cheema Kapchorwa has good overall body and sweetness as well as very low acidity. It is a great coffee for folks who don't usually go for the fruity and floral tastes in other African coffees and more similar to a Central American coffee. I roasted it to a Full City level in order to develop more sweetness. This cup has flavors of dark cacao, roasted nut, raw honey, and vanilla. It's something that everyone in the household can enjoy.

I also do my best to choose a second coffee that has a little more to it. Whether it is in the acidity or sweetness or just an interesting origin, I look for something that might peak a bit more interest for the avid coffee drinker in the house. The Kivu Kanzu from Rwanda fills this second slot. I chose to roast this coffee to a City+ roast level. This coffee reminds me of black tea with a twist of lemon and a little honey stirred in. The citrus acidity also has a hint of green melon as it settles on my palate and there is a bit of caramelized sugar in the finish. This is a well balanced cup.

We usually have our popper antennaes up, searching for popcorn poppers that will roast coffee. After some testing, we found that this air popper by Nostalgia is great for coffee roasting. It has vents on the sides of the roasting cylinder, the plastic body is thick and it gets hot enough to turn coffee brown.

We will continue to sell the Westbend Air Crazy (it will be back in stock soon) but thought we should offer this one as well since good coffee roasting poppers can be hard to find.

What's the difference between the Nostalgia and the Westbend?

Aside from aesthetics and the thickness of the clear plastic lid, the main difference is our lack of experience roasting with a Nostalgia. We have used and abused the Air Crazy for years and can stand by their durabilty. We use them in ways we shouldn't during testing and roasting demonstrations and they have held up better than expected. We have tested our Nostalgia as much as possible over a short period of time and have had great results but we aren't sure how well it will perform in the long run (we'll let you know in a few months).

Why is it $10 cheaper?

Who knows. In most cases we don't have much control over the price of the products we sell and there's so much that happens as appliances like these follow the path from design stages to store shelves. The only difference in quality we really noticed is the thinner plastic lid. If you will be using the lid every time you roast, expect it to warp, especially around the slots near the opening....

Colombia Elias Finca El Azulejo - is balanced, with sweet caramel juxtaposed by roasted nut, and a rindy citrus note. As it cools, the profile gives way to honey and black tea. A well-rounded coffee, and one that will prove well in espresso applications too.